DVI-I to HDMI

coolVariable

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
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So Christmas brought a new TV to my house (a very nice Panasonic TC-32LX50 ... 32" LCD HDTV) and so the old TV (CRT) is on the way out.
The new TV also supports the newest and best (not sure about that) standards - namely HDMI.

While nobody could tell the difference on the old CRT TV and the connection over S-Video looked great, I am very tempted to also get some sort of HD cabling/connection to the new TV.

My graphics card in the Media Center is an ATI Radeon x300 that supports VGA, S-Video out and DVI-I.
The TV supports HDMI (and of course S-Video and component).

As far as I can tell ( <= Google) HDMI also transmits sound ... so I guess I would need a cable/adapter that has HDMI on one end and DVI-I and Audio on the other.

Any help and experience would be greatly appreciated. I am sure there are lots of people that have their HDTV hooked up to their HTPC.
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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S-video is limited to 480i output (even though you can set it to display a resolution larger than that... but it still gets output at 480i) so going with component or HDMI is going to make a big difference being hooked up to a HDPC.

HDMI supports audio, but you do not need to send audio with it.

DVI can be converted to HDMI with a simple cable. HDMI's signal is just the same signal as the DVI-D portion of your DVI-I output of your videocard.

You can get an adapter cable at monoprice.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&style=

Sending a res like 720p should get you much better results than s-video. You may be able to do one step better and get the exact native res of your panel depending on your display.

For audio, you can continue to do whatever you're doing now. Are you hooked up to a receiver and "real" speakers or computer speakers, or something else?
 

coolVariable

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
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At the moment I am using the TV's speakers.

After this upgrade - maybe I will also upgrade the sound in the near future too.
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
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Originally posted by: coolVariable
At the moment I am using the TV's speakers.

After this upgrade - maybe I will also upgrade the sound in the near future too.

Ok, you should be able to keep using your current connection method unless your TV does not allow another audio input to be in use when the video source is HDMI.

 
Jul 14, 2006
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You can find a simple adapter (DVI to HDMI and DVI cables) at Walmart for 10-15. Try it out and if you don't like the quality return it without any problems
 

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
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Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
S-video is limited to 480i output (even though you can set it to display a resolution larger than that... but it still gets output at 480i) so going with component or HDMI is going to make a big difference being hooked up to a HDPC.

HDMI supports audio, but you do not need to send audio with it.

DVI can be converted to HDMI with a simple cable. HDMI's signal is just the same signal as the DVI-D portion of your DVI-I output of your videocard.

You can get an adapter cable at monoprice.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&style=

Sending a res like 720p should get you much better results than s-video. You may be able to do one step better and get the exact native res of your panel depending on your display.

For audio, you can continue to do whatever you're doing now. Are you hooked up to a receiver and "real" speakers or computer speakers, or something else?

yoyoyo - what about hdcp? i am assumin his x300 doesn't have hdcp (could be wrong)...i can never remember is the source, like a ht cable box wanting the hdcp compatible tv or is it the other way around?

thanks,
bob
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Originally posted by: bob4432
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
S-video is limited to 480i output (even though you can set it to display a resolution larger than that... but it still gets output at 480i) so going with component or HDMI is going to make a big difference being hooked up to a HDPC.

HDMI supports audio, but you do not need to send audio with it.

DVI can be converted to HDMI with a simple cable. HDMI's signal is just the same signal as the DVI-D portion of your DVI-I output of your videocard.

You can get an adapter cable at monoprice.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10231&style=

Sending a res like 720p should get you much better results than s-video. You may be able to do one step better and get the exact native res of your panel depending on your display.

For audio, you can continue to do whatever you're doing now. Are you hooked up to a receiver and "real" speakers or computer speakers, or something else?

yoyoyo - what about hdcp? i am assumin his x300 doesn't have hdcp (could be wrong)...i can never remember is the source, like a ht cable box wanting the hdcp compatible tv or is it the other way around?

thanks,
bob

I think you only have to worry about that when your source material is HDCP.